Top 10 Athletes From Alaska
Note: Although born in Anchorage, Curt Schilling grew up (for want of a better phrase) in Arizona, and is thus eligible for that State's list, not for Alaska's. Nor, despite her high school basketball prowess, does another noted conservative fool, Sarah Heath of Wasilla (now Sarah Palin), count.
Honorable Mention to Rocky Klever of Anchorage. He played 6 seasons with the Jets, backing up Mickey Shuler at tight end. He was a member of the Jet team that got to the 1982 AFC Championship Game. He caught 46 passes for 514 yards and 3 touchdowns -- which would be a very good single season, but that's what he had for a career.
Honorable Mention to Reggie Tongue of Fairbanks. A safety, he starred at Oregon State University, and played 10 seasons in the NFL, including 2004 with the Jets. He had 15 career interceptions, including 3 for touchdowns.
Honorable Mention to Ty Conklin of Anchorage. He went the opposite way of Schilling, born in Phoenix -- making him the 1st Arizona-born player in the NHL -- but his family moved to Anchorage when he was a boy. He played 10 seasons as an NHL goaltender, but only 2 games in the Playoffs, including Game 1 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals with the Edmonton Oilers, where he came on as an emergency substitute and ended up producing a howler that gave the Carolina Hurricanes the win, and arguably the Cup itself.
He then came up with a weird distinction: He was on the losing side of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, as the backup to Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins as they lost to the Detroit Red Wings -- and then was traded to the Wings, and was Chris Osgood's backup, playing just 1 period of the Finals, as the Pens beat them. He is now the roving goaltending instructor in the Wings' organization.
10. Hilary Lindh of Juneau. She won the Silver Medal in the women's downhill at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France; and the Gold Medal in it at the 1997 World Championships in Sestriere, Italy.
9. Trajan Langdon of Anchorage. A guard, "The Alaskan Assassin" helped Duke University reach the 1999 NCAA Final, but lost. He then played 3 seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the down years between their Brad Daugherty and 1st LeBron James periods.
But he went to Europe, and found new life in their leagues, with Benetton Treviso in Italy, Efes Pilsen in Germany, and with CSKA Moscow in Russia, with whom he won the 2006 and 2008 EuroLeague titles. he was named Russian League Player of the Year in 2008 and to the 2000s EuroLeague All-Decade Team. He is now an assistant general manager for the Brooklyn Nets.
8. Josh Phelps of Anchorage. In a 9-season major league career, including half of the 2007 season with the Yankees, the 1st baseman hit 64 home runs, more than any other Alaska-born player.
7. Shawn Chacón of Anchorage. He and Schilling are the only 2 of the 12 Major League Baseball players born in Alaska to appear in an All-Star Game, both as pitchers. In Chacón's case, it was in 2003 with the Colorado Rockies. He appeared in 8 major league seasons, and helped the Yankees reach the Playoffs in 2005 and 2006. He finished with a record of 45-61.
6. Brandon Dubinsky of Anchorage. The center played for the New York Rangers from 2007 to 2012, and was then sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the trade that brought Rick Nash to Madison Square Garden. He is still with the Jackets, albeit on injured reserve at the moment, and enters 2018 with 141 career goals and 267 assists.
He is the only person born in Alaska to make the NBA. (Langdon was born in Palo Alto, California, and Carlos Boozer at a U.S. military base in Aschaffenberg, Germany.) He played 7 seasons with the Miami Heat, including 4 Eastern Conference titles and the 2012 and 2013 NBA Championships. He now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.
4. Tommy Moe of Girdwood. At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, he won the Gold Medal in the downhill -- the Winter Games' equivalent of the Summer Games' 100 meters, making him the unofficial "fastest man on skis" -- and the Silver Medal in the super giant slalom.
3. Carlos Boozer of Juneau. Like Trajan Langdon, the forward went to Duke. Unlike Langdon, he won a National Championship there, in 2001. He then joined Langdon on the Cleveland Cavaliers, but became a 2-time All-Star with the Utah Jazz, later also playing with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.
He also won a Gold Medal with the U.S. team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He returned to China last season, playing in their league. Last month, after not getting picked up anywhere, he announced his retirement.
2. Scott Gomez of Anchorage. As a rookie, the center helped the New Jersey Devils win the 2000 Stanley Cup, and won the Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year. He got them to another Stanley Cup Finals in 2001, and won another Cup in 2003. Through the 2007 season, leading up to the move from the Meadowlands to Newark, he may have been the team's most popular player.
But his contract ran out, and general manager Lou Lamoriello refused to open the vault for him. The arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, did, and suddenly "Gomer" became Devils fans' most hated opponent. My 1st game at the Prudential Center, I saw a fan with his Number 23 jersey, and the name X'ed out with masking tape. I saw another fan with an unaltered jersey, and before I could say anything, I saw somebody else point and yell, "Burn that jersey!"
In hindsight, he didn't do anything wrong, other than sign for the one team we hate the most. He went where he was wanted. And he only spent 2 years with The Scum, before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens, then the San Jose Sharks, and then the Florida Panthers.
In 2014, he was reacquired by the Devils, and all seemed to be forgiven, but it was only for 1 season. He played 1 more season, divided between the St. Louis Blues and the Ottawa Senators, and retired, with 2 All-Star Game berths, j181 goals and 575 assists. He has now completed the New York Tri-State Area circuit, as an assistant coach with the Islanders.
1. Mark Schlereth of Anchorage. It's hard to believe that any State's greatest athlete is an offensive lineman, since few positions in sports so defy statistical comparison. It's also hard to believe that any State's greatest athlete is a man with the nickname "Stink." Those of you who are under the age of 40, I can tell you that, when I was a kid in the 1970s, "(name of person or team) stinks" was as harsh as you could get. You did not say the word "suck" in public unless you were referring to actual, non-sexual, suction.
But he is, at the least, easily the best of the 13 NFL players born in Alaska. The guard won Super Bowls with 2 different teams, which is a rare feat. He also made the Pro Bowl with 2 different teams, which is rare. Doing both is rarer still.
He was one of the later group of "Hogs" that won Super Bowl XXVI with the Washington Redskins. the State. He went to the Denver Broncos, and helped them win Super Bowls XXXII (on his 32nd birthday, no less) and XXXIII. He was named to the Broncos' 50th Anniversary Team. Although it hasn't been retired in either Washington or Denver, he is probably the greatest athlete in any sport to have regularly worn uniform Number 69. (Save your jokes.)
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